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Grow your own beer in 2015 – join Cardiff Hops!

February 24, 2015 admin Leave a comment

Ever fancied growing hops to brew your own beer? If you never knew where to start, Cardiff Hops are here to help…

Cardiff Hops was started in 2013. The group was started to grow hops in a city and create the group’s own Green Hop Ale – one that you couldn’t get from a large commercial brewery. The group teamed up with Simon (the owner of PIPES in Pontcanna) and over the last two years he has crafted the Taff Temptress from the group’s hops. Each year it evolves into an easy drinking green hop ale that the group is part of!

Last year Pipes produced 400 litres of the beer and had Chapter serving it. This year the plan is to hit a full 1000 litre brew!

The group are looking for your help – the more growers there are, the more hops there will be at harvest time, and the more local beer can be brewed.

To join, order your hop pack from the group. Pay upfront by 15th March and then pick it up on the 21st or 22nd March (the Hop pack costs £20).

The hop is a dwarf hop that only grows around 2m in height and is easy to handle unlike traditional hops.
You get all you need to get it off to a good start, plus twine and help and guidance from the group.

As a perk, hoppers get a discount on the beer when it’s ready and first dibs on the bottles when the rest is bottled up. Bonus!

For more information on hopping in 2015, join the Cardiff Hops 2015 Facebook event and help brew Cardiff’s own ‘co-operative’ beer – made from hops grown all over the city!

Cardiff Hops Facebook group

Whats on

Standing Still photography exhibition, Abacus Cardiff 22 Feb – 8 March 2015

February 20, 2015 admin Leave a comment

For those who like their photography exhibitions with a taste of human rights, this weekend is the opening of The Kickplate Project’s ‘Standing Still’.

Standing Still
22 Feb – 8 March 2015
The Abacus, St David’s House, Wood Street, Cardiff

Opening on the anniversary of Victor Yanukovych’s impeachment and escape, Kickplate will be presenting an exhibition of work by two Ukrainian fine art photographers, Sergiy Lebedynskyy and Alexey Ostrovskiy.

Sergiy’s lith prints taken during Euromaidan last year evoke the emotions, movement and chaos that place the viewer in the midst of Kiev protests, giving us a unique account of the events unlike the sterile, lifeless and detached digital images that we see in the media.

Alexey’s photographs created with a homemade large format camera on photographic paper that cover classical still life, portrait, and experimental, rendering an intimate and quiet universe.

Pairing these images together, Kickplate hope to show a fuller and more nuanced vision of Ukraine that can sometimes get lost amongst the stereotypes and grey reality presented to us.

Over a year on from the beginning of the protests and despite the continuous conflict, events in Ukraine are only now once again present in the British news due to recent escalations. With this exhibition, Kickplate want to remind the audience of the situation that the people in the country are facing.

More information about the artists: learn more about Alexey Ostrovskiy

Standing Still – Facebook event page

The Kickplate Project website

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The City

The Quiet Triumphs project

February 19, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Last Friday was the launch of Quiet Triumphs – a community based project aimed to inspire charity and positive, local change.

The project was started by Gareth Jones, composer and musical director of NoFit State Circus, who has been using his skills to highlight eight different charities/organisations who are improving their community.

He has been documenting their work, recording and filming a song on location and will be releasing each of the eight episodes online over eight weeks. With each episode there will be links to how the viewer can help the featured community. The goal is to celebrate and support the Quiet Triumphs that exist on a daily basis. Pretty nice, eh?

Not all episodes are set in Cardiff, but it’s such a lovely project, we had to give it a mention.

Watch the first episode below, covering Organised Kaos (Kaos standing for Keeping Adolescents Off the Streets), a community group up in the Upper Amman Valley.

The origins of the group:

Organised Kaos originated from a Friday night circus club in the Upper Amman Valley, South Wales on the 6th of July 2007. The Amman Valley is a semi rural location with high levels of anti social behaviour, many teenage ASBOs and minimal youth service provision. In response to this backdrop, Nicola Hemsley started a Friday Night Circus School. The purpose of Organised K.A.O.S is encompassed by its acronym (Keeping Adolescents Off the Streets). This was, and still is achieved by offering challenging skills based opportunities to young people through Circus Arts.

Gareth says: “When I began developing the Quiet Triumphs Project one of the first organisations I thought of was Organised Kaos. Having worked in Circus for a number of years I had seen this company grow and grow without losing its original principles. Organised Kaos have helped shape the lives of dozens of children, teenagers and young adults around South Wales with many going on to become professional Circus Artists that perform worldwide. In this building there are no outsiders, no insiders, and all are encouraged to develop and share their unique skills with one another. This is a place where teenagers can use their bodies to express themselves and with each new movement comes a deeper understanding of who they are and what they are capable of.

“Organised Kaos is not just for young people either. The performances and showings that they share bring parents, grand parents and friends together to support a skill and art form that had once seemed unobtainable to older generations. Now the Circus is in the town of Gwaun Cae Gurwen every day!

“If you ever think “nothing really happens” where you live then think of Nicola. Think of Nicola in Upper Amman Valley, with just over four thousand people living in it, taking classes for the first time. Think of her, inspiring young people to discover and invent new forms of expression at a point in their lives where they are struggling to be heard. Think of the excitement that Organised Kaos has brought and the lives that are being changed on a daily basis in an area where “nothing really happens”. If you still think that nothing really happens in your community then maybe it’s time to start something…”

The next episode is out tomorrow! Keep your eyes on the Quiet Triumphs Facebook to watch it…

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The City

Adamsdown, how does your garden grow?

February 17, 2015 admin 2 Comments

Adamsdown is one of the only parts of Cardiff that has its own city garden, run through a project called Edible Adamsdown. We sent photographer Lorna Cabble along to take some snaps at their first community meeting of 2015.

Edible Adamsdown is a project that aims to regenerate and re-open Adamsdown Community garden and pass back ownership to local community members – that could mean YOU! This beautiful little garden is hidden away behind Adamsdown resource centre on Moira terrace and boasts raised beds, a pond, tonnes herbs, a grapevine and a living willow structure.

Some words from Rebecca Clarke, who runs Green City (who run the garden):

“We were thrilled to have more than 30 community members join our ‘How will your garden grow’ event last Sunday. The sun was shining, the tea was flowing and our friends and neighbours came bearing chocolate cupcakes and tasty snacks.

“It was great to see lots of new faces, some of whom have lived in the area for many years and had no idea this garden existed – it’s always so lovely to see their reactions as they discover this little green space.

“Hannah from Free Range learning hosted the workshop for us – the aim was to get to know each other and find out a bit about what each of us would like to see happen in the garden. But this was far from a boring meeting – we kicked off with a seed matching game and then interviewed our seed partners to get to know a bit about them. Other activities and games involved creating a skill tree, a snowball fight (just paper – no real snow!) and discovering and discussing our ideas and priorities for the garden. This was all complimented by lots of tea, cake and conversation.

“It was such a positive start to the project for the new year and with 4 more events before the end of March, including urban chicken keeping, composting and wormeries and a small garden skill share, I think this garden will be teeming with plants and activity this year! Bring on the Spring!”

The garden was initially opened in September 2014, for a fix up event and party, inviting locals to join in and earn timecredits and get involved in this growing project.

Photographer Lorna Cabble enjoyed her time in the community garden: “My time photographing this event was really pleasant, I was surprised by the amount of people that turned up to discuss the community garden, and how much enthusiasm was showed by a range of different cultures and ages. It was really nice to see a community coming together and getting to know each other through a shared passion. Discussions took place and plans were made for future meetings.”

View upcoming events including composting and vermiculture, community chicken keeping and small garden skill share workshops: Adamsdown Community Garden Events.

This lovely little green space was cleverly designed by Michele Fitzsimmons of Edible Landscaping who leads the Green City wild food foraging walks.

Get in touch with Green City or visit the Edible Adamsdown Facebook group to keep updated.

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Lorna Cabble is a photojournalism student at the University of South Wales, currently living in Cardiff.

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The City, Whats on

Cardiff library cuts ‘read-in’ protest – photoblog

February 10, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Over the weekend, we sent photojournalist Shannon Jackson to the mass read in protest to the cuts that Cardiff libraries are facing. Here’s what she saw there.

SHANNON: “When I first arrived at the protest sight, there were no more than ten people to be seen, placing a feeling of disappointment in the pit of my stomach. However, not 15 minutes later over 200 locals swarmed Cardiff Central Library, holding placards, homemade signs and their favourite books. From children to the elderly, the support was overwhelming. The passion and determination on the faces of the crowd showed just how important the libraries are, and how devastated so many people will be if they aren’t saved.”

At the protest, the following authors read on the day:

Belinda Bauer – Crime novelist, 2010 CWA Gold Dagger Award winner.
Gwynneth Lewis – inaugural National Poet of Wales.
Sally Roberts Jones – Port Talbot-based historian, publisher and former librarian.
Peter Finch – Author of ‘Real Cardiff’ series, former head of Academi/Literature Wales.
Jackie Morris – Pembrokeshire-based children’s author
Llyr Gwyn Lewis – Welsh lecturer,Swansea University, Recent novel: Rhyw Flodau Rhyfel (Some War Flowers).
Francesca Rhydderch – Novelist, Editor
Gwennan Evans – Author of ‘Bore Da’, Radio Cymru regular
Jo Mazelis – Swansea-based novelist.
Labi Siffre, Poet & Musician (Hits: “Something inside so strong”/”It must be Love” – covered by Madness)
Mike Church, Poet

Speeches were also made by –

Steve Belcher, UNISON regional organiser
Madhu Khanna Davies – Save Rhydypennau Library campaign
Maggie Simpson – Cardiff Central library assistant
Michael Sweetman, Unison and
Phoebe, 12 year old borrower and reader.

Sent messages of support –
James Dean Bradfield, Manic Street Preachers
Owen Sheers, Poet, Prose Writer, Born in Abergavenny
Tessa Hadley, Novelist
Sheenagh Pugh, Poet, Novelist, critic, reviewer
Jenny Sullivan, Popular Children’s Novelist
Kate North, Novelist, poet, lecturer in creative writing at Cardiff Metropolitan University
Gillian Clarke, National Poet
Malachy Doyle, Young People’s Writer from Northern Ireland, Lived in Wales 1984-2007
Thomas and Helen Docherty, Married Childrens Author & Illustrator team
Kaite O’Reilly, Playwright, Fiction writer
Laura Wilkinson, Short stories author & novelist
Brian Moses, Favourite children’s poet
Cathy Cassidy, Children’s author, Save Liverpool Libraries campaign
Alan Gibbons, Children’s Author, Founder of National Libraries Day
Greg Cullen, Playwright, Cardiff People’s Assembly
Romy Wood, Novelist
Sally Barker & Menna Elfyn, Wales PEN Cymru

Chaired by Mab Jones, Award winning Comic Poet &
Adam Johannes, Co-Convenor, Cardiff People’s Assembly.

FINALLY please continue to bombard councillors with emails to save our libraries, this includes seven local branch libraries under threat, but also the running down of Cardiff Central Library with plans to lose yet another floor to move Marland House, the busy Housing Benefit & Council Tax Advice Centre into the building.

Email Council leader – Phil.Bale@Cardiff.gov.uk
Deputy Leader: Cllr Sue Lent, Sue.Lent@Cardiff.gov.uk
Cllr Peter Bradbury (libraries portfolio) Peter.Bradbury@Cardiff.gov.uk

Find your local councillors to contact here –
https://www.cardiff.gov.uk/…/Your-…/Wards/Pages/default.aspx

Shannon Jackson is 20 and a first year Photojournalism student at the University of South Wales.

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The City, Whats on

25 things to do in Cardiff as recommended by a local

February 4, 2015 admin 2 Comments

Recently, Metro UK asked me to come up with a list of the 25 things you MUST DO when visiting Cardiff. It was pretty hard to put this list together. Here’s what ended up getting published:

25 things to do in Cardiff as recommended by a local

I had a short list of about 100 things, but quite a few of them were things like:

seek out Ninjah at the Riverside Market and spend an hour discussing how the end of the world is heralded and how Pendragon is our ultimate warrior saviour and how he caused the tsunami in Japan; (for the uninitiated, watch Ninjah in action below)

walk through St Mary Street stone cold sober at 3am and wonder if this is what God meant when s/he created wo/man; (if you don’t know what I’m on about, see Maciej Dakowicz’s Cardiff After Dark photo series)

(photo by Maciej Dakowicz)

take visiting friends to The Full Moon and make them down a pint of the “green shit” they sell there;

bump into Gruff Rhys and his tribe of children wandering around Pontcanna;

take friends from London to estate agents’ windows and compare how much house prices / rent prices are here compared to there;
finish work late, head straight to town to meet your mates, neck a bottle of rose in a doorway then stumble into Clwb / Dempseys and pogo around at the indie disco until you fall over, break your nose and get taken to casualty;
go out on the piss in town after the rugby when you said you were going straight home, wake up on the couch in someone else’s house feeling full of self-loathing and regret and then go for a run in the rain up the Taf Trail and see how much redemption you feel at the end of it.

But those are the little secret joys that Cardiffians like to keep to themselves, eh? Don’t want EVERYONE finding out about the real joys of living here!

Anyway, basically the point of this is to say I put together a list of 25 things you MUST do in Cardiff, a family-friendly version, for Metro. You can read it by clicking the image below, or this link: 25 things to do in Cardiff as recommended by a local.

What would you have on your unedited, NSFW list? Let us know in the comments…

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Whats on

H. Hawkline residency, Thursdays in February 2015, Clwb Ifor Bach

February 1, 2015 admin Leave a comment

To celebrate his forthcoming album on the Heavenly label (oooo!), the delectable H. Hawkline has escaped his tour duties with Cate le Bon and Sweet Baboo and landed his very own residency at Clwb in Cardiff, on Thursdays throughout February. Each show will have some very special guests. Read on for more info…

“I wish I knew where I’d left me keys…”

Here are the shows – more guests are to be announced! (keep an eye on the Facebook event)

5th Feb

GWENNO
JOY COLLECTIVE DJs

12th Feb

TENDER PREY
NO THEE NO ESS
NOEL (LESSON NO.1) DJ

19th Feb

ALEX DINGLEY

26th Feb

V spesh guests TBA!

More details about the rest of the tour….

H Hawkline Clwb Ifor Bach residency – Facebook event
H Hawkline Facebook page

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Whats on

Who doesn’t love a teen movie? Beyond Clueless director Q&A, 3 Feb 2015, Chapter Arts Centre

January 29, 2015 admin Leave a comment

I was recently contacted by Catherine Bray, producer of an independently funded film called Beyond Clueless which is having four screenings and one director Q&A in Cardiff at Chapter, asking if we’d promote it on the blog. Obviously we can’t promote everything on this blog, or I’d be doing literally nothing but blog posts about mobile phone shops and hotel deals and you’d all want to punch me in the face.

However … having worked on something similar for We Are Cardiff, I had sympathy for her mission to find low-cost ways to promote a film, so thought I’d put something up here about it. Also, teen movies are the BEST, aren’t they?? The greatest film ever made is, after all, Richard Linklater’s AMAZING 70s teen rite of passage movie, Dazed and Confused. If you want to argue it, we can take this outside.

ANYWAY. So, back to Beyond Clueless: it’s a docu-essay about teen movies in the 1990s-2000s, it got a nod from Paul Bradshaw in the Guardian.

Sight and Sound have also given it some serious props:

“Titles are cut up into masterfully edited mosaics, so that stock teen-movie scenes – house parties, first sexual encounters, school corridor walks, masturbation, etc – are shown in fluid multi-movie montages in which each film, like any high-schooler, must struggle to maintain individual identity in the crowd. Accordingly, even as Lyne charts the cliques, codes and rules of teendom itself, he is also revealing the building blocks that constitute every high-school movie. Beyond Clueless is, after all, a structuralist work, using a compelling collation of similar imagery from different sources to make accessible and intelligible the system beneath the chaos of adolescent experience, real and represented.”

Beyond Clueless is showing at Chapter Arts Centre on:

Friday 30 / Saturday 31 Jan / Tuesday 3 / Wednesday 4 February, with a special Q&A with director Charlie Lyne on Tuesday 3 Feb.

Get tickets

NB: Wanna know what I’m on about above? Watch the We Are Cardiff film that was so stressful it caused me to flee the country. Literally. Not because of its harrowing content. It’s actually a very nice film. WATCH IT.

Peas

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The City, Whats on

Save Cardiff’s Library Service – National Libraries Mass “Read In” Protest, Sat 7 Feb 2015

January 27, 2015 admin 4 Comments

Sharing an event and some news from Cardiff People’s Assembly … save Cardiff’s Library Service

Cardiff’s public library service is being dismantled. The Central library, voted one of the top six libraries in the world, is now going through a second year of budget cuts. Last year they lost the top floor and a quarter of their staff, and closed one day a week. Next year it could become a “Super Hub” and lose even more floorspace when Marland House, the housing benefit and council tax centre, moves into the building. Hundreds of books have already been removed and library staff have been warned not to talk about the cuts on social media.

Meanwhile up to seven community libraries in Cathays, Radyr, Rhiwbina, Rhydypennau, Roath, Rumney and Whitchurch will stop receiving any council funding at all. The plan is to ‘hand buildings over to the community’ by making trained staff redundant and replacing them with volunteers. If these “community groups” cannot be found to take over they will have to close completely.

Libraries are more than a place to store books – they are the only free space where residents can meet in the winter, and a vital place for elderly, disabled and unemployed people to access computers and to search for work. Our right to participate in cultural life is essential for a democracy, and if we don’t put up a fight for these libraries now we won’t get another chance.

Be part of history. Defend our library service in our capital city. Make the council provide a comprehensive service as the 1964 Libraries and Museums Act demands: Save our libraries!

THE EVENT:

Get yourself down to CARDIFF CENTRAL LIBRARY on Saturday 7 February. This protest will take place in front of the library (not inside!). Please bring a book to hold up as a symbol of freedom, and banners, placards and signs. Authors, campaigners and members of the public are invited to read a three minute passage from a favourite book. Join in or go along and listen.

Saturday 7 February, 12:00 midday, outside Cardiff Central Library, The Hayes.

Join the Save Cardiff Libraries Facebook event

OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

Sign and share Unison ‘Save Cardiff Library Service’ petition:
https:you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-cardiff-library-service

Write to the paper –

Email a letter the South Wales Echo (under 250 words to be published include address and phone number which will not be published) explaining what the library service means to you and why it must be defended, not cut back: ecletters@walesonline.co.uk

Write to the politicians –

In Liverpool, 11 libraries where saved when 500 authors, musicians and educators wrote to the mayor along with hundreds of school children sending love library letters. (See Cathy Cassidy’s love letter on the Internet).

Be part of history. Defend our library service in our capital city. Make the council provide a comprehensive service as the1964 Libraries and Museums Act demands. Write your love library letter to the leader of Cardiff council. Exercise your freedom of speech by discussing library cuts freely on Twitter, Facebook, Walesonline and letters to the papers. Show solidarity with library staff who have been banned from doing so.

Address your letters/emails to

Leader of Cardiff council
Cllr Phil Bale
Leader’s Office
Room 525
County Hall
Cardiff, CF10 4UW

email Phil.Bale@Cardiff.gov.uk

with copies to:

Deputy Leader
Cllr Sue Lent
7 Pen-Y-Wain Place
Roath
Cardiff
CF24 4GA

email Sue.Lent@Cardiff.gov.uk

and:

Cllr Peter Bradbury (libraries portfolio)
10 Yarrow Close
Cardiff
CF5 4QS

email Peter.Bradbury@Cardiff.gov.uk

Please copy in cardiffpeoplesassembly@gmail.com and let them know of any replies.

See you on the streets!

This event and civic action is called by Cardiff County UNISON & Cardiff People’s Assembly. More power to the people!

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Whats on

Independent Venue Week – Cardiff, 25 – 31 January 2015

January 26, 2015 admin Leave a comment

Support your local independent venues! As part of the national Independent Venue Week project, two of Cardiff’s best watering / dancing / music holes are putting on some special nights. Don’t miss out!

Clwb Ifor Bach

The mighty mighty Welsh Club has a load of great events on to celebrate!

TUESDAY 27 JANUARY

Imperial Music proudly presents When We Were Wolves for their first headline show at Clwb Ifor Bach Cardiff, they hit the stage on Tuesday January 27th as part of the Independent Venue Week with support from Set To Break plus two acts to be announced.

Imperial Music presents When We Were Wolves / Set To Break
Facebook Event – http://on.fb.me/1wrtxE9

THURSDAY 29 JANUARY

We’re excited to announce that Turnstile Music will be hosting a night of entertainment on Thursday 29th! They’re bringing along with them Cardiff’s own R.Seiliog – Bristol’s TRUST FUND and the mighty Los Campesinos! for an exclusive DJ set!

Turnstile Music presents R.Seiliog – TRUST FUND – Los Campesinos! DJ Set
Facebook Event: http://on.fb.me/1GoKC4y

FRIDAY 30 JANUARY (SOLD OUT)

Welsh pop-punks, Save Your Breath, have announced their plans to disband following a final UK headline tour in January 2015. The band will play ten final shows, finishing with their LAST EVER show at Clwb Ifor Bach on Friday 30th January 2015.

GB Live presents Save Your Breath (Last Show) / As It Is / Cardinals
Facebook Event: http://on.fb.me/1rUGYN0

As part of the Independent Venue Week celebrations, I Ka Ching Records curate a line-up showcasing some of the best artists on the label.

Recordiau I KA Ching Records presents…. Candelas / Sŵnami / Yr Eira
Facebook Event: http://on.fb.me/1C7Jxyc

Zerox
Clwb Ifor Bach’s PARTY Jukebox Night – Classic tunes & a wild disregard for genres, every Friday at Cardiff’s longest running independent venue. FREE entry with a wristband for the Save Your Breath/Candelas show.

SATURDAY 31 JANUARY

Future Of The Left / The St. Pierre Snake Invasion / TBA
Event: http://on.fb.me/1vn1iAX

Cardiff’s own Future Of the Left close the weeklong celebrations! Future of the Left are a rock band from Cardiff, Wales. They were formed in 2005 as part of a plea agreement following their involvement in an arms deal which left an actor playing tony blair dead, or at least pretending really well. They are made up of Andrew Falkous, Jack Egglestone, Jimmy Watkins and Julia Ruzicka.

Nos Galan
Cardiff’s longest running Saturday night. Expect a huge variety of musical genres as we take over all three floors to deliver you a uniquely varied Saturday night out.

Dirty Pop – Downstairs pop and disco dancing rules the roost with DJs Ian Cottrell, Esyllt Williams, Johnny Bull and their Dirty Pop. Voted ‘Best DJ Night’ at Swn Festival 2009, it’s hot, sweaty and more than a little dirty.

Mr Potter’s Proper Disco – A veteran of the festival circuit. Mr Potter keeps the party poppin’ on the middle floor with his jump-jive, soul, funk, rhythm and blues disco.

Vinyl Vendettas – The top floor plays host to the first ladies of the Cardiff scene; The Vinyl Vendettas. Their mix of indie, classics and rock & roll has graced festivals across the land and it’s to Clwb’s considerable pride that they have decided to make our venue their home.

Clwb have also put together a rather nifty playlist of all the bands you can expect to see there this week: listen on Spotify

Gwdihw

Everyone’s favourite owl-themed bar is putting on three mighty shows to celebrate IVW! And remember it’s 50 PERCENT OFF EVERYTHING AT THE BAR UNTIL 8pm ALL THROUGH JANUARY, AND 9-10pm ON EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY TOO! (#uhoh)

THURSDAY 29 JANUARY

Huw Stephens presents: Frankie & The Heartstrings with Houdini Dax &Wasters | Thu 29 | 8PM | £5/7
EVENT: http://on.fb.me/1C4d4ch

Kicking off on Thursday Jan 29th, we’re ridiculously excited that local musical maestro, Huw Stephens is bringing the unquenchably enthusiastic Indie-Rock of Frankie & the Heartstrings for a special intimate show, with incredible support from Houdini Dax & Wasters.

FRIDAY 30 JANUARY

Johnny Cage & The Voodoogroove‘s Rock n’ Roll Revue | Fri 30th | 9PM | £3
EVENT: http://on.fb.me/13h3PGg

We have the 1st of a years worth of the brilliant rock and roll revues of Johnny Cage & The Voodoo Groove, who will be bringing their rollicking cuban guitar sound and a host of special friends bi-monthly, with amongst other things, burlesque dancers, DJ’s, amazing support acts and of course, themselves – the UK’s most righteous rock n’ roll party machine.

SATURDAY 31 JANUARY

Hully Gully x On The Corner Records Tropical Discotheque Part Deux w/ DJ Izem & J-Buck | Sat 31st | 9PM | £3
EVENT: http://on.fb.me/1u4CTXu

To polish off a wonderful trio of shows, Hully Gully bring another Tropical Discotheque (Part Deux), with On the Corner Records choosing guest DJs to choose the finest in turntablist funk & soul, with DJ Izem & J Buck heating up the dancefloor with tropical grooves with an edge of horns and bass.

Get yourselves out on the town and ENJOY!

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NoFit State Circus – Archive Project launch

January 25, 2015 admin Leave a comment

We’ve featured the internationally acclaimed, Cardiff-based contemporary circus, NoFit State on here a couple of times before. This January, the circus has begun work on a yearlong project to archive the company’s history and heritage. The project, supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund will catalogue a huge archive of printed material, artefacts, film, photos and documentation covering the company’s 30 year history and will culminate in an exhibition and a new interactive website.

Bianco on tour, 2014

The project titled ‘From Ball’s Up to Bianco’ will tell the story of how a group of youthful Cardiff-based jugglers assisted by thousands of performers, crew, advocates, audience members and partners became directors of one of the most successful contemporary circuses of the century. It will also show the impact NoFit State has had on the growth of contemporary circus in the UK and further afield, as well as how well rooted it remains in the community of Cardiff.

The Big Top at the Bath Fringe Festival 1999

Ali Williams, founder member and now Creative Director of the company comments, “It’s really very exciting to be starting this project, and to be working with experts from Glamorgan Archive and The Cardiff Story Museum to make some sense of all our archive which we have been collecting and storing for so many years. It’s a great fusion between the creative and heritage sectors and very pertinent to our local Cardiff community”.

NoFit State was born in Splott, and the company opened their new professional training space on Four Elms Road in 2014 while maintaining their community training space on John Street in the city centre. Recent tented tours have taken the company as far as Australia to Perth Festival. Currently, their show Bianco is part of the International Circus Festival in Marseilles and Noodles, the company’s theatre show will be presented at this year’s London International Mime Festival.

“It’s really a ‘done good’ story,” says Liz Lavender, Volunteer Co-ordinator for the project, “and we hope it will inspire people in many ways. We will be running a volunteering programme so people with very varied interests can be involved. We hope through working with local people through Volunteering Cardiff we can involve people in the whole process, from specialised activities where training will be given in oral history recording and editing for example to preservation techniques, event coordination, administration, web development and exhibition creation”.

For more information or to get involved contact liz@nofitstate.org.

NoFit State are also keen to hear form anyone who has memories of seeing or being involved with any of the company’s community based shows or activities in the past.

About NoFit State

NoFit State was founded in 1986 by five friends. During a politically charged time, in a recession, and as a creative reaction to the world around them, the circus was born. Today, NoFit State is the UK’s leading large-scale contemporary circus company, producing professional touring productions and a wide variety of community, training, and education projects for people of all ages. www.nofitstate.org

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The best Welsh songs of 2014 – the Cardiff version

January 22, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Dave Owens is my favourite Wales Online writer, because he covers music and arts and all the fun local stuff. Back in December he wrote an article about the 51 best Welsh songs of 2014, and it’s taken me this long to get through it!

There’s some great Cardiff talent in the list. Check out the following:

Kutosis: Crystal Beach (listen)

Cardiff’s favourite pot-punk trio give it large! More about Kutosis here – you can get their last album and other merch on the Kutosis Bandcamp page

Manic Street Preachers – Futurology (R Seiliog remix) (listen)

It’s heavy! R Seiliog is playing in Clwb on Thursday 29 Jan, with Trust Fund and Los Campesinos! Catch him live there! If you want to catch the Manics live in Cardiff though, you’re too late – all tickets for their epic castle gig be SOLD OUT!

Gulp – I want to dance (listen)

Obviously we’d have a Super Furry Animal in here somewhere, right? Guto kicks out the jams with his expansive upbeat electronica. Gulp Facebook

Houdini Dax – Get Your Goo On (listen)

If you can catch these guys live, do. They’ll whip you up into a proper frenzy! They’re playing Clwb on 28 Feb (Facebook event)

Fireproof Giant – A Place to Start (listen)

Gotta include these guys, because they’re amazing and because the lovely Gareth made all the spooky music for the ghost-hunting podcast I did back in October! Fireproof Giant Facebook

Listen again: We Are Haunted – a guide to the spirit city

Slowly Rolling Camera – Into the Shadow (listen)

Last on our list (but definitely not least!) is Slowly Rolling Camera – this cool yet epic jazz group have brought the sound back in a new and fresh way. They’re amazing! They’ve got no dates lined up for the time being, but keep an eye on their Facebook for when you can see them next: Slowly Rolling Camera Facebook

Honorable mention…

Samoans – I Am Your Density (listen)

They didn’t make it into Dave’s list, but I’m a big fan of Samoans. Their last album Rescue came out last year, and this is m favourite track from it. Find out when they’re next playing live on the Samoans Facebook page.

FULL PLAYLIST!

For some light listening, here’s the full playlist:

Check out Dave’s A Sound Reaction Facebook page (where he posts all his stuff).

Also see the original story on Wales Online: The 51 greatest Welsh songs of 2014

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Clwb Ifor Bach

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A blog about Cardiff, its people, and the alternative arts and cultural scene!